Haeundae·Seomyeon sees boom as global esports event with 20 million viewers will open

연합뉴스 / 2022-04-30 12:16:03

▲ This photo, provided by the Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency, shows the Busan Esports Stadium. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲ This photo, provided by Riot Games, show the 2020 LoL world championship. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

SEOUL, April 30 (Yonhap) -- Haeundae and Seomyeon, the two biggest attractions in the city Busan, South Korea, will see a boom as the global esports event with more than 100 million users, will open.

The esports event, "Mid-Season Invitational" (MSI) of the League of Legends (LoL), co-hosted by Busan and Riot Games, will be held from May 10th to 29th for 3 weeks at BEXCO 1st Exhibition Hall in Haeundae and in Busan Esports Arena in Seomyeon, Busan, according to the Busan city, Saturday.

LoL MSI is an official international competition in which teams that have won spring splits (spring season) from various regions of the world will compete to determine the best.

Along with the World Championship, which competes for the world's strongest in the second half of the year, it is the two pillars of the LoL esports competition.

Last year, the MSI final set a record of 10 million viewers per minute and up to 23 million viewers online.

More than 500 athletes and staff from 18 countries will compete in this year’s competition.

About 80 international players have already arrived in Busan and started preparing for the tournament at luxury hotels.

Participating players and staff will stay in Busan for a month and use 4,000 rooms.

Accordingly, Haeundae luxury hotels is expected to see a boom.

An official from a luxury hotel in Haeundae said, "We had a hard time with COVID-19, but the room reservation rate has recently been rising due to the lifting of social distancing," adding, "As foreigners stay for a long time due to e-sports events, the hotel atmosphere seems to be recovering from before COVID-19."

The area around the esports stadium in Seomyeon is also expecting commercial district revitalization as a large number of visitors will visit to watch large international competitions.

Busan city will consult with the organizers to prepare seats for 4,000 people to watch at the same time during the competition.

The competition will be broadcasted on YouTube, Twitch, Afreeca TV, and Naver.

The city plans to add major attractions, including Busan's northern port, to the LoL MSI host city video produced by Riot Games to promote Korea (Busan), the origin of e-sports and a candidate site for the 2030 World Expo.

Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon said, "The global game exhibition G-Star has been held in Busan for 13 years and will continue to be held until 2028,” adding, “The first LoL e-sports competition in Korea will pave the way for Busan to host the world's largest e-sports event."

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